WONDERLAND - Alice MacDonald, 10, meets her idol, Kym

FEISTY pop star Kym Marsh brought a touch of glamour to south Reading when she popped into Safeway to meet her fans.

The ex-Hear'Say star and wife of former EastEnder Jack Ryder swept into the Basingstoke Road store sporting killer heels and a revealing fuscia pink top over a bright red bra.

Across town thousands of Womad festival goers were preparing to rough it for the weekend, but Ms Marsh's fans glammed themselves up to join the queue of about 300 teenage autograph hunters.

Emma Kirby, aged 12, from Kingston Gardens in Whitley, was at the front of the queue with six of her friends. She said: "I have been here for three hours, I wanted to be first in the queue. I saw her in concert at Summer XS but I have never

met her.

"I don't know what I am going to say to her, but I am excited."

Beth Chaplin, 16, travelled down from Leeds to meet Ms Marsh and joined the queue with her friend Lauren Mortimer from Sussex.

The two girls met through a website about Hear'Say, Ms Marsh's former band which was put together as part of reality TV show Popstars.

Lauren said: "I have met Kym about 20 times now.

I travel so far because she is worth it, she is my idol.

"Every time I have met her I have wanted to meet her again.

"I went to Liverpool on Monday to see her and I have been to Sheffield as well."

Paige Hunt from Burnham was the first to meet Ms Marsh after she won a competition on radio station Reading 107fm.

Next in line was 10-year-old Alice McDonald from Tilehurst. She said: "I was very excited, very nervous and very shocked.

"I asked her how her children were and she said she missed her husband, Jack in EastEnders."

Speaking before she met her public, Ms Marsh said: "I think it's really important to go along and meet the fans who don't always get to

go to gigs and concerts.

"It is nice to meet people who are supportive of you." She said that her two children, who she kept hidden from judges on Popstars, the reality TV show that led her to stardom, are very proud

of her.

She said: "The children are always supportive and they watch the TV and cheer me on.

"They can come to things like this when they are not at school, and they get star struck when they meet other stars."